posted
Lee's write-up of the "All Good Things..." Galaxy refit. Do I even have to say that there aren't any diagrams? No? Didn't think so.
Conjecture
In 2371, the Galaxy-class USS Enterprise suffered a sneak attack which initiated a warp-core breach. Though never tested in the field, the warp-core ejection system worked perfectly, enabling the ship to escape intact (though heavily damaged by the shockwave from the explosion). Emergency repairs using components suplied by the USS Farragut enabled the Enterpise to return to Utopia Planitia for overhaul.
The emerging Dominion threat played a major part in dictating the direction this overhaul would take. Over the objections of Captain Picard, the "cocktail lounge" bridge module (as one Admiral was heard to call it) was replaced with a more utilitarian model, with increased tactical control and 8 more bridge stations (including the ones already installed prior to the battle at the Veridian system). Most controversial however were the so-called "phaser bulges" added to the warp nacelles, to correct what was seen as a major blind-spot following the destruction of the USS Odyssey. Objections that they wouldn't have saved the Odyssey were swept aside.
Note: the Enterprise was not alone in receiving these upgrades. The USS Venture also got the enhanced weapons suite, while the USS Galaxy was too close to completion, gaining only some of the improvements designed by the Enterprise's chief engineer (as well as the revoking of its "NX" status).
The Enterprise returned to service in 2372 in time to participate in stopping - in direct violation of orders - in the Borg incursion of that year. The chance absence of families onboard - because of the shakedown cruise - was fortunate indeed in the time-travel drama and Borg takeover that ensued. On return to the 23rd century, once again some refit was required!
Over the next two years, the Enterprise was more often in spacedock than out. It was only following the Ba'ku incident, and Captain Picard's leave of absence, that the ship went into deep space again under the command of Captain Riker, participating in the attack on Cardassia Prime.
With the end of the Dominion War the Galaxy-classes returned to their traditional duties. The surviving second-batch ships were fully outfitted, with two in particular - the Victory and the Excalibur - having their 'cobra-stripe' hull patterns, the legacy of a failed public relations exercise (which sought to rehabilitate the shattered reputation of the Galaxy by adding "go-faster" stripes), hastily removed.
In the late 2380's two events catalysed the development of what is now called the "Galaxy refit." First was the inability of the USS Challenger to catch a stolen shuttlecraft; second was the regular attaining of speeds by newer ships in excess of warp 9.999995. Faced with the obsolescence of a key ship class, and the inadequacies of the logarithmic warp scale, Starfleet recalibrated the warp scale and recalled the oldest-surviving Galaxy-class, the USS Enterprise, for extensive refitting.
It rapidly became clear that the Galaxy as built simply couldn't generate the advanced warp geometries required by modern high-warp starships. This was rectified by the addition of a third nacelle, giving a top warp speed of 16 under the new scale.
In addition, the armament was enhanced with a phaser cannon slung under the saucer; the sensor suite received an upgrade; and, a cloaking device - the Treaty of Algeron having been declared void in 2393 following the fall to the revitalised Klingons of a Romulan Star Empire weakened by internal strife chiefly by the Unification party.
The result was. . . a complete mess. Plans to apply the upgrades to the rest of the Galaxy fleet were scrapped, and suggestions that the Galaxy refit be re-christened the Enterprise-class suffered the same fate as had similar plans for the Constitution refit of a century before. The USS Enterprise was saved from decommissioning only by the personal intervention of Admiral Riker, and remained in service until its destruction in 2395.
Canon
The final Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "All Good Things. . ." was partly set in the possible future of 2395, and featured the Enterprise-D still in service, albeit with some interesting modifications. The subsequent 'real' destruction of the ship on Veridian III invalidates this possibility, yet there remains the chance that the refit Galaxy may become a reality.
The primary alteration flies in the face of accepted starship design: a third nacelle, attached above and between the main pair with a pylon reminiscent of that of the Nebula's sensor/equipment module. The reasons for this addition can only be speculated at. The impulse engines on the spine have also been extended.
Other modifications include a large-bore phaser cannon mounted under the saucer, capable of destroying a Klingon Negh'Var attack cruiser with 4 shots. There are also some extra modules attached to the upper saucer, which look like sensor equipment. The Bridge module has a far-simplified layout.
At some point in the future, given the logarithmic nature of the warp scale and the faster capabilities of such ships as the Intrepid- and Prometheus-classes, warp speeds must have been recalibrated. The Olympic-class USS Pasteur and the Enterprise-D are both capable of Warp 13 - which may not even be the top speed of the latter, given Riker's later order for "maximum warp."
Lastly, in this reality the Enterprise-D is equipped with a cloaking device. Since it is stated the Klingon Empire has conquered the Romulan Star Empire, can the Treaty of Algeron be considered void? A line of dialogue states that battle damage to the starboard plasma coil will put the device out of operation for 7 hours.
Known refit Galaxy-class Ships:
USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) - Destroyed by antimatter containment failure
Notes:
Even after refitting, the Enterprise was considered obsolete and due for decommissioning in 2390 before Admiral William T. Riker chose her for his flagship. This is barely a third of the ship's (potential) operational lifetime.
Some of the additional components would also appear to make the ship incapable of performing a saucer separation.
Sources:
The Star Trek Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition "All Good Things. . ." (TNG) "Star Trek: Generations"
-------------------- "Kirito? I killed a thing and now it says I have XPs! Is that bad? Am I dying?"
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posted
Good attempt at explaining the Refit and it's strangeness.
I can see the three nacelled version as a class variant, but it's silly as a refit- the ship cant seperate it's saucer with the phaser cannon thing attached (or if it can, it would have to eject that huge part first- a real risky thing in an emergency).
Any clue why they would add the goofy "air conditioner" torpedo launcher thing behind the bride or the twig-like cannons flanking the bridge?
I built one of these "dreadnaughts" a few years back, but I decided to eliminate the ship's "neck", the refit's "fins", air conditioner and bridge cannon thingies from my version.
It makes the ship's profile lower and cleeker than the galaxy and allows the third nacelle to peek above thebridge from the front. Basically, I only kept the cool new impulse engines, nacelle phaser pods, giant phaser cannon thing and the third nacelle.
At least one possible future (with Geordi commanding the Challenger does not use this refit on the Galaxy.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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posted
Dat has it in one. It's a theory of mine, universally ignored, about what makes a class-ship lose its NX status. We know it happens - Excelsior, Galaxy, maybe some others I can't remember off the top of my head without trawling through my shiplist. Basically, I reckon that as soon as a class-ship starts receiving upgrades based on operational lessons learnt from other members of the class in service, it can no longer be considered experimental and thus isn't an NX anymore. Just think about how much was learnt about the Galaxy class from the E-D, and how much of that could be well applied to other ships of the class. So if such lessons were being used to upgrade the oldest Galaxies, then the Galaxy herself at about 10 years old (and thus already in spacedock undergoing refit) might miss some of the more drastic structural changes like phaser bulges. Alternate realities, don't'cha just ove 'em? 8)
I'm glad the article stills stands up, overall, I had to think of a reasonable alternate timeline that didn't descent into fanboy silliness. I was probably stretching it a bit with the explanation for the cobra-stripes but, hey! If you'd told me back in 2000 that one day a Star Trek show would devote a whole double-episode to explaining Klingon foreheads. . .
posted
That's a good article, Lee. I like the alternate timeline you've proposed. You've included "Timeless" from Voyager but omitted Nemesis (when was the article written?). It looks like the point of divergence between the two timelines is that alternate LaForge decided to coax the ejection system back to life instead of running.
quote:Since it is stated the Klingon Empire has conquered the Romulan Star Empire, can the Treaty of Algeron be considered void?
Depends. A real life example is the fall of the Soviet Union. For some things, we've (worldwide we) recognized Russia as the legitimate successor state for the USSR. Hence, Russia still has a seat on the UN Security Council. For other things, we've (United States we) decided that Russia is a new entity and that the Soviet Union is dead with no successors. Hence, the abolishment of the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty (nitpick: the official reason seems to be for the US to build the SDI and that this treaty was in the way; at the time one of the arguments in suppose was that the treaty was with the USSR which no longer exists). There are probably more examples (clearer examples, too).
Given that in "All Good Things..." the Klingons had become much more aggressive and that the Federation was at least willing to bargain with the Romulans about borrowing one of their cloaking devices ("The Search") in the real timeline, I don't think you'd be far off the mark in assuming that the Federation would consider the treaty void after the Klingon conquering of Romulus.
-------------------- The philosopher's stone. Those who possess it are no longer bound by the laws of equivalent exchange in alchemy. They gain without sacrifice and create without equal exchange. We searched for it, and we found it.
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Not intending to start an argument, but I believe we did consider the ABM treaty to bind us and Russia once the USSR fell. Our withdrawal from the treaty was in accordance with the terms of the treaty, much like the US consitution allows for modifying, or even nullifying, itself.
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quote:From the Wikipedia article After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991 the status of the treaty became unclear, debated by Senators and professors of law, Succession of the ABM Treaty, State Succession and the Legal Status of the ABM Treaty, and Miron-Feith Memorandum. In 1997, a memorandum of understanding between the US and four of the former USSR states was signed and subject to ratification by each signatory, however it was not presented to the US Senate for ratification by President Clinton.
Obviously, there were serious questions about upholding the Anti-Ballastic Missle Treaty with the remains of the Soviet Union. The US tried to scrape together something that would allow us to overlook that the treaty was with a political entity that no longer existed and had split into several new entities. For all intents and purposes, yes, the US followed the rules of the treaty and withdrew with six months intent as required by it.
The point I'm making, though, is that some in the US political sphere already considered the treaty null and void once the USSR imploded. I should have been more clear on that, yes, and that's why I went back and added the bit in parantheses about the official reason for leaving the treaty and that one of the arguments was that the USSR didn't exist anymore. I still managed to garble my point, as usual. Basically, yes, the US followed the treaty and did so for ten years after the USSR ceased to be. Then we announced our intention to withdraw from the treaty in six months time, as per the treaty. We didn't just say, "Y'all aren't the Soviet Union, so this paper is trash now."
Something like that could have played out in Lee's alternate timeline: Romulans conquered, try in good faith to follow treaty with Romulan successor state, realize it's not in best interests, void the treaty, equip cloacking devices.
-------------------- The philosopher's stone. Those who possess it are no longer bound by the laws of equivalent exchange in alchemy. They gain without sacrifice and create without equal exchange. We searched for it, and we found it.
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posted
Written circa 2000, Siggy. Maybe 2001. Definitely pre-Nemesis though. Not sure what I'd have done with the events of that film. . . Had the E-D ram the Scimitar, but then do a saucer-sep leaving the wrecked saucer embedded in the Scimmy to be destroyed? I'd probably have used it as justification for the phaser-lance addition.
Question: do we know for a fact the Bridge "horns" are actually some sort of weaponry? I think when I wrote this article I assumed they were sensor booms, hence "the sensor suite received an upgrade." That's my answer to Jason's question about them.
posted
I've seen them referred to as weapons on scchematics and models, but nothing canon.
Strange placment for anything really.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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quote:Originally posted by Lee: Had the E-D ram the Scimitar, but then do a saucer-sep leaving the wrecked saucer embedded in the Scimmy to be destroyed?
That's actually a pretty good idea. The Enterprise-D rams the Scimitar, and then the stardrive section separates leaving the saucer embedded in Shinzon's ship. Data remains behind to activate the saucer section's auto-destruct ordinance packages. Insert scenes of evacuation and mass hysteria prior to cutting loose from the saucer, and they the effects crew a chance to show lifeboats and shuttlecraft fleeing from the saucer (maybe even have a shot of the emergency egress doors on bay one being blown out).
quote:I'd probably have used it as justification for the phaser-lance addition.
This actually brings to mind another question. If half of a Galaxy-class starship is destroyed (like if the saucer survived the events of Generations), would Starfleet go through the time and expense of rebuilding the missing half of the starship? Or would it depend on which half was missing? The stardrive could probably still function quite well on its own, but the saucer sure couldn't. Do they just put the surviving half in mothballs and wait for the opposite half to be blown apart on another Galazy-class starship?
quote:Do we know for a fact the Bridge "horns" are actually some sort of weaponry?
Personally, I've always thought they looked a little like antennae. Antennae for what, though, I don't know (especially considering that all communications antennae have been embedded within the hull of the ships).
-------------------- The philosopher's stone. Those who possess it are no longer bound by the laws of equivalent exchange in alchemy. They gain without sacrifice and create without equal exchange. We searched for it, and we found it.
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Considering the size of these "horns", do you suppose they are sensors similar to those on the Miranda class Saratoga, the Soyuz class, or even that turret thing on the bottom of the Constellation?
posted
When I sat down to write this alternate history, I had two choices: one, to just go ahead and stick to subsequently-established canon events, just with the E-D instead of the E-E; or, two, to go way out into left-field and do this alternate timeline influenced by what we learn from "AGT. . ." and maybe even incorporating events from the other alternate-future eps - DS9's "The Visitor," VOY's "Endgame" and so forth. In the end I chose the former, rationalising it that a lot of the characters' personal situations presented in "AGT" were a bit, well, screwed-up really.
And now that Picard had knowledge of these events and could communicate them to the crew, we weren't going to see Data as an ivory-tower academic, LaForge as a novelist (I mean, WTF?), Riker and Worf largely achieving their dreams but locked in bitter enmity over the loss of Troi, and so forth. And the idea of Picard as an ambassador was nonsense. In Generations Kirk tells him the best contribution he can ever make is as a starship captain; in Insurrection he complains about having to do ambassadorial duties instead of being an explorer. Ambassador Picard? It ain't happening.
I wanted to present a logical, rational scenario whereby sticking a huge fuck-off phaser battery and a third nacelle on a Galaxy would make sense. Hope you liked it. 8)
posted
I liked it, Lee. It tied things together nicely without being too ambitious.
BTW, after inspecting my reference photos for the above drawings, I'm pretty certain the "air conditioner" cluster behind the bridge is a torp launcher with two tubes on either side of the bridge. I've no idea what the horns are supposed to be, but sensors seems a good bet. I should know, but on the Galaxy what are those eliptical pieces the horns have supplanted?
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